Issued: Issued August 31st 1895. Earliest recorded date of use, September 14th 1895Printer: The Bureau of Printing and EngravingQuantity Issued: 20,700,000.

A full sheet (200 stamps) of #271

DETAILED FACTS AND FIGURES

The Post Office report from 1899 supplies one with almost every detail you would wish to know about this stamp,
and every other stamp in this series. The level of detail is amazing.
Click here for more on this report.

The stamps were watermarked USPS and part of one of the three letters will be visible
(sometimes barely so) when immersing the stamp in watermark fluid using a simple black watermark tray.
By the way, you really have to believe you have got a valuable stamp before investing the $20 it costs
to buy the afore mentioned items. You could use the cheaper alternative, Ronosol Lighter fluid, however, unlike
watermark fluid, it is highly inflammable and dangerous to use, plus it stinks the house up.

The watermark will appear as part of the letters above.
A double lined letters USP. If there is no watermark then go here and if there are no triangles in the corner (see below)
then go here.

As this was the Bureau of Printing and Engraving contract a small triangle was cut into
the design at top left and top right. This distinguishes it from the earlier 1890 series.

The source photograph of James Garfield, followed by the Bureau of Engravings Master Die of the President, followed by the design used in the stamp.

Varieties to look for

THE USIR WATERMARK

The Bureau printed perhaps one sheet with the wrong watermark, they used the USIR watermark reserved for
internal revenue stamps. If you see a I or letter R in the watermark then see the
price guide above for #267a. Shown
above is the only multiple of #267a

#256 is different from the rest of the 1894 Bureau's in that the top line runs all the way to the right
edge of the stamp. Shown on the left is the 6¢ stamp, on the right any other Bureau issue.